In their book [Jay B, Hurn D. (2008) "On Being a Photographer" Third Edition Lens WorkPublishing Anacortes WA] Hurn and Jay have a section entitled "Shooting the Single Picture" (pp 63 -78). In this section we read "I do believe that very often the difference between an average photographer and a really fine photographer is this willingness to admit doubt..........The fine photographer says in effect : Well thats a pretty good effort but I am willing to admit that many little subtleties of camera position, which I cannot pre-see, might make the difference between an adequate image and a good one"" (p.64) In the same paragraph Hurn goes on to assert that the fine photographer is willing to try all sorts of subtle permutations to achieve the best result. He then goes on to deny that this process is the same as shooting a lot of pictures in the hope that one works.
At first reading the statement appears to offer a sound reason why the fine photographer is more successful in getting the best picture and yet in actual practice there is no discernible difference between the two approaches. Here I assume that the average photographer is not simply pointing the camera at a particular spot and without moving the camera presses the shutter repeatedly. In the supposed thought processes of the fine photographer offered in the above paragraph it is recognised that s/he cannot pre-see what differences subtle changes will make. It follows that much depends upon luck and Hurn acknowledges this later in the section at p.73 when he says: "Paradoxically , the more static the scene the more images I tend to shoot. When there is only one moving element, say the hand of the person you are photographing , it is very, very difficult to decide which gesture, which position of the wrist or fingers is going to be the most significant.
It is often argued that the skilled worker makes his own luck - the harder I work the luckier I become - and yet, in a strict sense, this cannot be true. "Luck" is necessarily unpredictable as it is a chance event that cannot be predicted either because it is truly random or the complexities of the many interacting elements is beyond the power of the human mind to predict the outcome. The one thing that can be hoped for by a photographer is being in the right place at the right time and ready to shoot the photograph. One can never be certain that, even in the relatively short time necessary to 'subtly' change the position of the camera, the best shot has been missed. Hurn himself admits that only one shot in over 3000 is of exhibition standard and that he would anticipate shooting between 700 and 1000 images for a seven picture essay (p.100). It is difficult to equate these statements with the idea that the fine photographer is in some way marked out by his/her approach to how many shots taken when compared with the average photographer.
One thing that can effect the outcome of a shoot is the experience of the photographer. Practice does not necessarily make perfect (after all, unless corrected, the average photographer can continue to repeat the mistakes evident in early work) but it does provide the right mental responses to events if the lessons are learnt from earlier mistakes. Photography is essentially about light and how it is captured and, I make the reasonable assumption that, the more the photographer is exposed to the effect of shifting light and the subtle changes it will bring about in the image the more likely he will respond at the instinctive level where action precedes rational thought.
Yet there is also an intangible in the equation which is how the photographer sees the world and how it can be portrayed in photographs. I would argue that the fine photographer has a view of the world that can be expressed successfully in a photograph. We can all learn, almost by rote, the rules of photography and may apply them to our images yet the image is pedestrian and lacking in impact even where (and most likely because) all the rules have been applied slavishly without regard to their applicability to the single picture. I would suggest that the fine photographer instinctively knows when to break the rules to achieve the desired end.
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